Friday, February 16, 2018

Today is Lunar New Year, and as usual Naver has some cute doodles and neat onebox results for 설날 which you can tap through. They include recipes, lists of family titles (what to call your cousin's wife's sister, etc.), travel info, and such.

But my favorite is this guide to 상차리기 (setting up an honorary table) for your 차례 (ancestor memorial rites). Not only is the picture cute, but they go into detail showing the correct placement and ordering of all the items.

Naver onebox results for 설날 showing 상차리기 table setting instructions

Meanwhile, Naver's doodle for yesterday featured some dogs frolicking around to celebrate the Year of the Dog.

Naver doodle for Lunar New Year 2018

This is part of a series for this holiday which will include this set:

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Naver now returns immediate onebox results (only on mobile, oddly) for noraebang (노래방, karaoke singing room) song number codes. No more using a dedicated app like a chump, or that greasy old songbook like a gramps.

If you're unfamiliar, noraebang are the private singing rooms where Koreans go to let off some steam by crying out their favorite songs (and sometimes by ordering in some hanky-panky room service). There's a large screen that plays generic emotional scenes while the words scroll by and you sing into a microphone with reverberation set at 11. But how do you input the song you want? In my day, we scan through a giant crusty old binder in the room to find the 4-5 digit code that corresponds to the song. Clearly this is a slow process, and you had to share the binder with others, and of course it wasn't always updated with the latest tunes.

About a million years later, Naver has saved you the hassle and built this feature right into their search box.

Search 노래방 (or click here) and a special mini-search box appears. Type in an artist or title, and boom, the correct number code is there. Here's an example.

Naver search results for "Hotel California" noraebang song number

Punch in the right code for that machine's brand (pro-tip: they're almost all TJ) and you'll be on a dark desert highway, cool wind in your hair, in no time.

Funnily enough, I hate the Eagles. But if this song doesn't come up in rotation at least once, then we're clearly not drunk enough.

Yes, I know a million websites and apps already had this feature. In fact that was the first official post on this blog (total link rot there). But this is the first time Naver's provided the info directly. It demonstrates how both Google and Naver are absorbing other sites/apps functionality for our convenience. Good for personal productivity, but I worry about the future of the open web when we end up with no reason to ever leave Google/Naver's own provided and contained results. It's a safe harbor, but the more we stay in it the less we explore.

Boy this post was going to be a quick single link dump with pic. Then I got wordy. Maybe I need a visit to a lovely place, with a lovely face.

Naver Map is testing a new beta version of their desktop map website. I mentioned before that it still uses the older imagery rather than the new multi-lingual imagery from the app. Well that's changing.

The beta site clearly uses the same map imagery as the app, including a sidebar that (looks just like Google Maps) will be familiar to you if you already use the Naver Map app.

Naver Map beta site English version. Screenshot.

I switched it to the English view and tried searching "Seoul station" but that didn't seem to work quite right. The colors and UI is more intuitive now though.

Naver Map beta site. Local info. Screenshot.

They've also brought over the "popular in the neighborhood" feature from the app. Tap that top button to see what keywords are popular searches in that area.

Naver Map beta. Right side sidebar. Screenshot.

Here's the important part. Under the Layers option, you'll find the little language boxes at the bottom of the pop-up. Tap "A" for English or the others for Korean, Chinese, Japanese. You can see that right now it only switches the underlying map imagery to the translated version. All the UI interface is still Korean only (but it's just a beta after all).

People on Twitter, when not complaining that the new map generally is terrible, note that the beta site is very slow loading. I couldn't get the 3D view (the raised polygonal buildings) to work. But it's a neat start.

I hope they eventually add back the links for embedding maps. And yes, I know objectively this is a step in the right direction, but I like the 1995 gray washed out style of the old/current Naver Map. Call me crazy, but this blinding bright white style that's in vogue these days drives me crazy. I'm here to work, not to have fun. Don't try to "fun up" my experience, websites.

Check it out for yourself here, but be aware that it only works on desktop. Opening the link on mobile will redirect you to the current Naver Map older style mobile site.

Just in time for long Lunar New Year drives back to hometowns, Kakao Map has a neat new app feature called "Future Drive Info" (미래 운행 정보). When you input your destination, it can automatically predict when the best time to leave would be, based on combing big data from traffic levels and Kakao Navi usage.

So for example, it will assume you want to leave right now, but it will also calculate the total driving time if you were to wait 30, 60, 90, 120 minutes before departing. In some situations, such as with rush hours or holidays, you could potentially shave an hour off your drive by waiting a while. Sounds good to me. You can also specify a different time/date for departure and it will recalculate.

It works when the app is set to English too, though it calls this feature "ETA by Time." To test it, get some driving directions, and tap the map screen's top-left icon. You'll get this kind of screen back.

Kakao Map "ETA by Time" screenshot

My sample didn't show much different in drive times. Looks like it's best to just leave right now. The UI could use some tweaking because it really draws emphasis on leaving in 1.5 hours, which if you're not paying attention is clearly a few minutes longer than leaving right now. As an aside, does it really only take 2.5 hours from south of Seoul to Gangneung? And on the day before 설날? Wow.

I haven't used Google Maps for driving directions in so long, I wonder if it has this feature too. Anyway nice to see Kakao keep pushing forward with features that work in other languages.

Live streams of the Olympic events

Within Korea, both Naver and Daum are offering free live streaming coverage of events. To me this is easier. Although the commentary is in Korean, you don't need to bother with a VPN or dodgy stream. Plus don't have to hear a lot of hot air.

Note that for Naver's feeds, the lower resolution is provided with no login/plug-ins necessary. Good enough for me to cast to my Chromecast and keep it on in the background. For the higher resolutions, you'll need their provided plug-in (desktop) or else the Naver TV app (mobile). Daum feeds need Flash player.

Saturday, February 10, 2018

Google is promoting their Street View imagery of the Pyeongchang area and key locations for the Olympics events. They've released a special highlights gallery of sites around the Gangwondo area that you can browse in full 360° glory.

This follows their previous highlights of Seoul and Jeju. This imagery can be a nice way for travelers unfamiliar with Naver Map or Kakao Map to get an idea of where they're going or where to go.

But what really caught my eye here was just how massively expanded the Google Street View imagery in Korea is now. Google's blog post shows a few blue lines of spots covered by street view, but actually, the entire area is blanketed in imagery coverage.

For example, here are the areas around the Olympic Stadium and Athletes' Village:

Essentially every road is blanketed. And remember, this is a pretty rural area. By the way, someone left a Google review with photos of the Athletes Village. If the name is right, he's a Russian hockey player named Nikita Borisov. Thought they were dopped out of this year but who knows.

How about over in Gangneung where most of the events are actually being held?

Google Street View availability around Gangneung. [screenshot]

Blanketed. OK, I just had to check then. How about Seoul?

Google Street View availability around Seoul. [screenshot]

Wow. The last time I tried using Google Street View in Korea, it was literally just pockets of coverage. Seoul had maybe 70% coverage, but outside the capital area you saw glowing islands of coverage only in certain touristy or promotional areas. It seems Google has quietly expanded their coverage on a large scale. You can still see some non-covered areas there, mostly mountains and airport. If you look at where I left pegman dangling, someone contributed their own panorama of the interior of Gimpo airport.

I tended to use Daum Maps Roadview in the past (it was easier, and I liked their 'pegman' icon of the little white camera) and now still use Kakao Map. But it could be worth revisiting Google's coverage. They even apparently drove by my place several months back.

The campaign, exclusive to Twitter, was launched to commemorate the United Nations resolution on the Olympic Truce, and users who tweet the hashtags listed below in six languages will unlock a special hashtag-triggered emoji:

Korean: #평화올림픽, #나에게평화란

English: #Peace4Me, #OlympicTruce

[etc.]

Another hashtag-triggered emoji depicting the Olympic Flame can be activated by tweeting the following hashtags:

That Adweek article lists the games as taking place in Pyeongchang, China. Ouch. Not sure if that's better or worse than saying Pyeongyang. See some other Korean Twitter emojis here.

Olympics mascots KakaoTalk stickers

Anyway, if you want to share some of these emoji type stickers yourself, you can also download a free sticker pack of the Olympic mascots Soohorang and Bandabi (수호랑 and 반다비) for Kakao Talk by adding the official PyeongChang Olympics "Plus Friend."

Kakao Plus Friend sticker pack of Soohorang and Bandabi

Naver doodles

And just for the fun of it, here were today's Naver doodles celebrating the Opening Ceremonies:

Naver's Pyeongchang Olympics Opening ceremonies doodle (desktop)

Naver's Pyeongchang Olympics Opening ceremonies doodle (mobile)

[Ha, I just typed "Olympics" in the Blogger location tag field and it brought up the right place. Neat.]

Friday, February 9, 2018

Over on both their main blog and Korean blog, Google has put up the results of a survey looking at how news articles get spread and modified through chat apps. They looked at a few regions where people use chat apps for news more than traditional SNS, but focused especially on South Korea and KakaoTalk.

Park Sang-kyu (박상규) of SBS News and Channel A is highlighted in the report as a freelance journalist who has succeeded in crowdfunding his stories through personal connections with readers. Links for him: 박상규 기자의 '셜록' 프로젝트 | 스토리펀딩 | 스토리펀딩 and 백수 기자에서 10억 기자로

If you want to jump right to the good stuff, their report is available as PDFs in both English and Korean. I skimmed through the English version and looked for some good quotes to give you an idea.

On why they chose South Korea:

Our case study also gives a window into how chat apps are used for news in a low-trust environment.South Korea is one of the world’s populations least trusting of news. Only 23 percent of Koreans trusted the news in 2017, the lowest of the 36 countries surveyed ... [with] widespread concern about the role information disorder within KakaoTalk specifically played in the political scandal and subsequent election.

On how they conducted the survey:

... in-depth interviews with eight users ranging in age from 17 to 31, including a female high school student, a 20-year-old male serving his compulsory time in the Korean military, and a self-described “feminist citizen journalist.” ... We also interviewed nine experts across journalism and technology in Korea, including a government spokesperson, a mentor to Korean media startups, an expert in AI policy in Korea and China, local journalists, and foreign correspondents.

Mandatory analysis of "pali pali!":

Korea’s culture is built on efficiency and speed. “Pali pali”—a ubiquitous phrase that means “Hurry up!” or “Faster!”—has come to define the Korean way of life. Today’s youth have a sense of urgency that permeates all aspects of life ... a Korean university student told us that Koreans “do not tolerate slow transportation, long lines, and long articles.”

On screenshots:

Screenshots are a favored medium for everything from organizing social meetups to submitting work to a boss. It’s common to share screenshots of calendars rather than text back and forth when scheduling study sessions or drinks. This practice has carried over to sharing news in KakaoTalk, with people circulating screenshots of articles or chats rather than links.

That last part is interesting. I hadn't thought about it, but it's true. Koreans do seem to prefer sending screenshots of news. I always assumed it evolved from memes, or else the pre-Unicode days. But there is something to be said about sending the raw info, free of links, load times, pages filled with advertisements, etc. Whereas I'd be more likely to copy/paste the text, they prefer screenshots.

I don't know how much we can glean from a survey of less than 50 people, and all people who already are deep in the KakaoTalk chat world. I mean most older guys I know still prefer a visit to Naver for news. This study is supposed to be "future" oriented though. It sort of reads like an advertisement for Google's products though. Their conclusion "solutions" all seem like increased use of apps, AI, translation bots, etc.

But what do I know. Here I am some guy passing on the news (with cherry-picked quotes) in his blog.